TY - BOOK
T1 - Market review and study of success characteristics in construction companies
T2 - Case:United States
AU - Koota, Jaana
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - As a market area, the United States is a mature, highly
developed, industrial nation with one of the highest real
per capita levels of any country in the world. With a
relatively decentralized, market-oriented economy,
businesses have considerable flexibility to expand
capital plant, lay off surplus workers, and develop new
products. In 2000 the Gross Domestic Product in the
United States was about $9,963 billion, which was about
1.3-times higher than in Western Europe (OECD Europe) and
about 85-times GDP in Finland. Total value of
construction was about $815 billion in 2000. Western
Europe is on a par with the United States for the value
of the construction. Compared to Finland, the value of
construction in the United States is about 50-times the
value in Finland. The residential construction portion in
the U.S was 46 %, or $379 billion, while non-residential
totalled near $292 billion, or 36 % of the total figure.
Civil engineering was $144 billion or approximately 18 %
of total value. Residential construction can be divided
into new construction and renovation and improvements of
housing buildings. The value of the new residential
construction was $269 billion, while the estimated value
of the renovation and improvements was $110 billion in
2000.
With globalization, understanding different business
concepts becomes more and more relevant. If European
companies want success in their cooperation and customer
relations with U.S. companies, they have to be flexible
in their ways of working and understand cultural
differences in business. Therefore it is essential to
realize which factors are important for success:
Importance of diversified business mix, client focus
(diversifying the practice/market sectors), business
orientation, and willingness to change.
In this study, information of success characteristics in
the construction industry is mainly based on interviews
in selected U.S. companies and experts at Texas A&M
University, Department of Construction Science.
Information was collected from seven companies, whose
fields of activities covered industrial construction,
residential construction, HVAC services and design and
planning. The success characteristics that are presented
in this report are common for most of these case
companies. These include, among others: differentiation,
alliances and partnerships, safety performance and labour
relations.
AB - As a market area, the United States is a mature, highly
developed, industrial nation with one of the highest real
per capita levels of any country in the world. With a
relatively decentralized, market-oriented economy,
businesses have considerable flexibility to expand
capital plant, lay off surplus workers, and develop new
products. In 2000 the Gross Domestic Product in the
United States was about $9,963 billion, which was about
1.3-times higher than in Western Europe (OECD Europe) and
about 85-times GDP in Finland. Total value of
construction was about $815 billion in 2000. Western
Europe is on a par with the United States for the value
of the construction. Compared to Finland, the value of
construction in the United States is about 50-times the
value in Finland. The residential construction portion in
the U.S was 46 %, or $379 billion, while non-residential
totalled near $292 billion, or 36 % of the total figure.
Civil engineering was $144 billion or approximately 18 %
of total value. Residential construction can be divided
into new construction and renovation and improvements of
housing buildings. The value of the new residential
construction was $269 billion, while the estimated value
of the renovation and improvements was $110 billion in
2000.
With globalization, understanding different business
concepts becomes more and more relevant. If European
companies want success in their cooperation and customer
relations with U.S. companies, they have to be flexible
in their ways of working and understand cultural
differences in business. Therefore it is essential to
realize which factors are important for success:
Importance of diversified business mix, client focus
(diversifying the practice/market sectors), business
orientation, and willingness to change.
In this study, information of success characteristics in
the construction industry is mainly based on interviews
in selected U.S. companies and experts at Texas A&M
University, Department of Construction Science.
Information was collected from seven companies, whose
fields of activities covered industrial construction,
residential construction, HVAC services and design and
planning. The success characteristics that are presented
in this report are common for most of these case
companies. These include, among others: differentiation,
alliances and partnerships, safety performance and labour
relations.
KW - construction
KW - companies
KW - enterprices
KW - market review
KW - USA
KW - United States
KW - business environment
KW - economics
M3 - Report
SN - 951-38-6141-4
T3 - VTT Tiedotteita - Meddelanden - Research Notes
BT - Market review and study of success characteristics in construction companies
PB - VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
CY - Espoo
ER -